


Empty House

by ronsparkyspeirs



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:12:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1207306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronsparkyspeirs/pseuds/ronsparkyspeirs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>they met in the summer, fell in love in the fall, grew apart in the winter, and ended in spring. a baby, a dog, and a quick marriage, Katharine Page experiences love for the very first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty House

**Author's Note:**

> okay so the timeline is maybe a little bit out of whack? and it's wasn't beta'd because i'm a lazy shit.

She meets Lewis Nixon III the summer of her twentieth year. They’re introduced by his mother at one of the many balls held during those hot, humid, months in New York City. Lewis is only a year older than her but he seems so much more worldly than the boys back home. He’s witty and charming and flirts with all the girls but the way he smirks; it’s like he knows something no one else does. He’s a spoiled prince, with the world at his feet and she feels complete when he looks at her. When Katharine writes her mother she tells her that she could see herself falling in love with this man.

Lewis calls for her one night shortly after their first meeting at her aunt’s house. He smells slightly like whiskey when he asks her out for dinner and he’s in need of a shave but the way he smiles is bewitching and Katharine is smitten. They go to a fancy restaurant and the chef comes out to greet Lewis, they bring them the finest bottle of champagne and the entire night Lewis grins like she’s the prettiest girl in the world; he tells her of his trips to Europe and says _I’ll take you there sometime_. The night is over too soon but Lewis had promised to have her back to the house by ten, he walks her to the door and kisses her goodnight, he doesn’t ask for her permission but she’s willing to forgive because his lips are warm and soft and if she presses herself closer to him than is appropriate she’ll later blame it on the two glasses of wine she had at dinner.

The rest of her summer is occupied with Lewis. He takes her to restaurants, they visit museums, they even go to Coney Island. The more Katharine gets to know him the more she is intrigued. He’s not like everyone else, he’s sarcastic and flippant about a lot of things; he’s interesting and sometimes possesses a tendency to brood but Katharine knows she can be the one to make him happy. Sometimes when it’s just the two of them Lewis talks about the dissatisfaction with the direction his life is taking, he says he wants more, he wants everything, and he doesn’t want to be just a Nixon for the rest of his life. That part Katharine tries very hard to understand because she comes from a world where names mean everything.

The first time she goes to his house she’s greeted by a brown, mangy, dog that doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “down.” The dog jumps on her legs and ruins her silk stockings, Katharine scowls and is about to scold the dog when Lewis makes his appearance at the top of the stairs, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

“I see you’ve met the dog,” Lewis chuckles.

“It ruined my stockings,” she says, pouting. Lewis waves a hand dismissively, “I’ll buy you new ones.”

The dog barks and wags his tail, “What’s its name?” she asks.

“The mutt? I don’t know, never gave it a name. I just call him dog.”

Katharine shakes her head in amusement because only Lewis would have a pet and never give it a name. She looks down at the mutt and it looks quite happy and expectant but Katharine pretends to still be mad about her ripped stockings.

One evening she sends a telegram to her mother asking if she could possibly stay for just a little longer in New York, _I think I love him mother_ , she says. Her mother responds quickly and says _yes she can stay_ but only if Lewis intends to marry her, Katharine says he must be intending to ask her soon because they’ve been spending quite a lot of time together, _why the other day he finally introduced me to his father_ , she writes. That night she goes to tell Lewis the good news and the maid tells her he’s indisposed but Katharine is not having any of that.

“I would like to speak with Lewis right now, it’s most urgent,” she says, and the maid gives her tight-lipped smile and gestures for her to follow.

The maid takes her to Lewis’ study, the curtains are drawn and it’s completely dark except for a small Tiffany lamp that’s set next to a large cushioned chair. “I already said I’m not hungry goddammit,” Lewis slurs, and it’s only then Katharine sees the empty bottles of liquor strewn about his feet. “It’s me,” she says softly, and Lewis looks at her with glazed eyes. His nose is slightly red and he’s completely disheveled.

He grins, “Hi honey.”

She smiles and makes her way toward him, fully aware of the consequences of what will happen if she stays. She wants to comfort him and take his sadness away, she wants to make him whole again and so that night they make love. Lewis is gentle and he murmurs loving words as he kisses her all over, she will always treasure the way he made her feel that night despite him being drunk and smelling of whiskey.

Eight days later Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and nine days later Lewis Nixon joins the United States Army.

Lewis seems excited and happy to join the war effort and Katharine tries to be happy for him but she can only think that the impending war will take him away from her. He’s a couple of days from shipping out to basic training when he asks her to marry him.

“But there’s no time,” she tells him, “I don’t even have a wedding dress!”

He shrugs, “So what? We’ll get married at the courthouse,” he says, beaming like a child on Christmas day, “we could go right now,” he says.

She’s taken aback for a minute because this is not exactly how she pictured her wedding, but the war is coming and they might not get another chance. So she laughs and nods, “Yes, let’s get married.”

The whole affair is done within fifteen minutes and the judge declares them husband and wife and Katharine is smiling so wide she fears her face will split in two. Lewis kisses her outside the courthouse and under the December sun he’s the most handsome man Katharine has ever seen.

Two weeks later Katharine finds out she’s pregnant but by the time the doctor tells her the good news Lewis is halfway across the country in basic training. She sends him letters and a few pictures of her growing belly, Lewis writes about wanting to see her and their baby, he also asks about the dog; Katharine is elated when she hears of his upcoming weeklong furlough before returning to Officer Candidate School. She waits for him at the train station, her baby bump in full view; he reaches her and kisses her like he’s never done before, “I missed you,” he says. During his time home they discuss possible names for the baby, Lewis says that whatever she wants to name the kid is fine with him and she laughs because she remembers he never cared much for names anyways.  

During his time at OCS his letters are few and far in between, he says he doesn’t have much time to write and Katharine understands. When he graduates Lewis is sent to a military camp in the South to act as military police; Lewis is frustrated and angry because he wanted to go overseas and do his part but Katharine is glad because he’s still in the States and in no impending danger. Her husband will be safe and her baby will have a daddy, it’s more than she can ask for.

So it’s more than a little disconcerting when Lewis comes home one weekend and announces he’s going to join the paratroopers.

“I met a real good guy, Richard Winters,” he says during dinner, “you’d like him.”

She smiles tightly, “I’m sure I would, but the paratroopers? Isn’t that a tad bit… extreme?”

“It’s an all volunteer unit, I’d be fighting with the best of the best Kat.”

“Lewis, I-I don’t want you to go,” she says, because she knows that if he joins the paratroops she’ll lose him. She hates herself for thinking that way but jumping out of airplanes is very dangerous and the risk is very high.

He rolls his eyes, “I’ll be fine sweetheart,” he tells her, smiling like he did on their first date.

Months pass by and Lewis trains with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division. He writes her often and promises to introduce her to his friend Winters, she’s scared of the war but she’s even more proud of Lewis. From what she reads in the papers and from what Lewis tells her, the paratroops go through tough training and not many men make it to the end, but her Lewis does. He’s an officer and he excels at his job; the day he graduates from jump school is one of the happiest in her life. Katharine is happy because in a few months she’ll give birth and she just knows Lewis will make a wonderful father and so she eagerly awaits the day Lewis will come home even if his letters have gotten shorter and fewer in between.

It’s not until the summer of 1943 that Katharine manages to see Lewis once more, she’s seven months pregnant and as big as a house but Lewis lights up when he sees her at the train station. He’s wearing his paratrooper uniform accompanied by his captain bars and Katharine blushes when he grins at her. He kisses her softly and his hand goes to her bulging belly, he chuckles and says, “That’s my kid.”

He has ten days before he has to report back and they decide to make the most of it. The dog greets them at the door and Lewis lights up like a Christmas tree, “It’s ruined three rugs in two weeks,” she tells him disdainfully, “Still haven’t given it a name I see,” Lewis responds.

“A dog that pees and destroys expensive furniture does not deserve a name,” she says haughtily and Lewis laughs.

Later Katharine decorates the nursery while Lewis sits in a rocking chair giving her control of the decision making, she asks him if he wishes for the baby to be a son but Lewis just shrugs, “As long as it’s healthy I don’t care what it is.”

Sometimes when they’re together Lewis gets a faraway look in his eyes, they make love but he seems older somehow; out of reach with his new experiences. He talks about the men in his company, he talks of commanders and his best friend Dick; Katharine realizes how silly it is of her to be jealous of his new friends when she thinks about the reason of why they’re friends in the first place, her husband is going off to war and the thought terrifies her.

The days he is set to leave he tells her that once he can write from overseas he will, she tells him half jokingly not to fall in love with some girl halfway around the world and when he only laughs and pushes a tendril of hair behind her ear Katharine feels a pit develop in the bottom of her stomach.  

Weeks pass by without a letter and Katharine fears the worst until one morning she receives a brief but explanatory letter. Everyone in the States knows the invasion of Europe is growing closer and Lewis reaffirms it, he promises to write her whenever he can and she replies by sending a photograph of their newborn. A healthy baby boy she named Robert, his hair is already dark like his daddy’s she writes, _I hope the war is over soon so we can be a family once again_ she says. _P.S. the dog is fine._

Operation Overlord goes as planned and Katharine sits in her house with her baby and the dog listening to the radio, the paratroopers spearheaded the invasion and Katharine says a prayer for her husband. She doesn’t hear from him in weeks and only receives a letter when he’s back in England. Lewis doesn’t say much, he talks about the baby and going on leave to London; he says the people of Aldbourne are nice but the beer’s hot. Never once does he mention his longing for her, he doesn’t say he misses her, and he simply signs the letter off with, Yours Lewis.

Two weeks later she receives another letter. The writing is messy and the paper is stained, she knows he’d probably been through one of his bouts of sulkiness, _he’d been drinking_.

_We were young, too young to be getting married. The war rushed us, it was too fast. I’ve never met my son and I don’t feel like I know you well enough._

She writes back, telling him he has plenty of time to get to know his son. _And you do know me Lewis, and I know you, I love you my darling. Even the dark parts of yourself that you think no one will love. Your son and I will wait patiently for daddy to return home, please don’t do anything rash._

She waits for months and never receives a letter back from him. Her days are long and lonely with a newborn in the house, Lewis’ mother visits often as does her own but what she really wants is her husband, the father of her baby; Blanche also comes once or twice but her frivolous attitude reminds her too much of Lewis. The house is too quiet and empty most days, only the baby’s laughter keeps her smiling, sometimes even the dog makes her laugh. He sticks his tongue out and barks happily until she sighs and runs a hand through its dirty brown mane.

“You’re a good dog aren’t you,” she tells it one night, the dog licks her hand in response.

The paratroopers jump in Holland and still Katharine prays for Lewis’ safety, the winter months approach and not a single letter from him. The next time she hears about the 101st Airborne Division is when they hold the line during The Battle of The Bulge, she reads in the paper about the bravery of the men, _The Battered Bastards of Bastogne_ a headline reads. She can only hope Lewis is safe and still in one piece.

Katharine visits his mother in February. She tells her she hasn’t heard from Lewis in months, Katharine shows her the last letter he sent and his mother scowls.

“Just like his father,” she says disdainfully, “but don’t worry dear, you’ll be taken care of,” she says, patting Katharine’s hand.

That night Katharine cries herself to sleep, she wakes up the next day and holds her baby; she kisses his forehead and tells him _daddy loves you very much_. In March Katharine Nixon files for divorce. She keeps the baby, the house, and the dog, the last vestiges of a happy home. She decides to name the dog Bear on what would have been her fourth wedding anniversary.


End file.
